Find a Funding Program

Horizons Foundation offers a diverse range of grant opportunities to support the LGBT community and other causes consistent with our mission. Horizons’ portfolio of grant programs is dynamic, as new programs are continually developed to bring resources to specific issues. If you do not see a current funding opportunity for your nonprofit’s work in this section, you may want to return to this site in the future, as new opportunities will appear as they become available. If you have questions about any of these programs, please contact Francisco O. Buchting, Director of Grantmaking & Community Initiatives, at (415) 398.2333, ext. 116 or fbuchting@horizonsfoundation.org.

Current Funding Programs

Community Issues grants

Horizons’ original Community Issues grantmaking program continues today. The annual Community Issues process supports organizations or projects serving LGBT people in the nine Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Most community Issues grants support general operating costs for LGBT-specific nonprofits working on a wide array of issues with multiple populations within the LGBT community. Community Issues grants also support non LGBT-specific nonprofits on their LGBT-specific projects.

The annual Request for Proposals (RFP) for Community Issues grants is usually posted in July of each year, with applications due in August. Applications are reviewed by both Horizons’ staff and by a carefully selected panel of community members. The foundation’s board makes decisions on grants in later fall, and grants are issued before year-end. To get a better sense of what we’re looking for, you can download a Community Issues grant application from a previous year.

Global Faith and Equality Fund

Grants from our Global Faith and Equality Fund amplify the voices of LGBT Christians and their allies around the world. The fund is currently focused on supporting efforts to stem the exportation of religious-based homophobia from the United States to other parts of the world. (Click here to see recent grants.) Proposals are accepted on an invitation basis only, and unsolicited proposals are not considered for funding. If you wish to talk about a possible grant proposal, please contact Francisco O. Buchting, Director of Grantmaking & Community Initiatives, at (415) 398.2333, ext. 116 or fbuchting@horizonsfoundation.org.

Coming Home Fund

Horizons is proud to be the home to the Coming Home Fund, which supports organizations and/or projects that serve LGBT elders in San Francisco. Grants have gone to provide direct services, support specific and needed staffing, and educate providers of elder services about LGBT issues and LGBT elders. Application is by invitation only. If you wish to talk about a possible grant proposal, please contact Francisco O. Buchting, Director of Grantmaking & Community Initiatives, at (415) 398.2333, ext. 116 or fbuchting@horizonsfoundation.org.

Donor-Advised Funds

Horizons is home to more than 90 Donor-Advised Funds, which are established by individuals, couples, or families who retain the privilege of recommending grants from the funds they establish. Learn more about a Donor-Advised Fund.

While it is not possible to apply directly to a donor who maintains a Donor-Advised Fund at Horizons, Horizons staff maintains regular communication with donors advisors about potential funding opportunities, especially when we can identify a specific fit between a donor’s philanthropic interests and the work of a particular nonprofit organization. This kind of connection is necessarily limited to carefully selected instances where Horizons staff believes that a match may exist. If you wish to talk about a possible grant proposal, please contact Francisco O. Buchting, Director of Grantmaking & Community Initiatives, at (415) 398.2333, ext. 116 or fbuchting@horizonsfoundation.org.

Scholarships

Horizons is proud to be home to several scholarships focused on supporting and raising the visibility of the LGBT community. These include:

GAPA's George Choy Memorial Scholarship

Established in 1997 by the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA), this fund provides postsecondary financial assistance to Bay Area LGBT Asian and Pacific Islander graduating high school students. It is named in honor of activist George Choy, who was a leader in the Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT movement, and was especially vocal in support of queer youth in our community, successfully representing GAPA to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass Project 10, the counseling program for lesbian and gay teenagers in public high schools.

Bobby Griffith Memorial Scholarship Fund

Horizons Foundation was honored to house the Bobby Griffith Memorial Scholarship Fund, named in honor of a gay youth from Walnut Creek who committed suicide in 1983 after his family would not accept his sexual orientation. Since 1990, the Bobby Griffith Memorial Scholarship Fund has funded scholarships for Contra Costa County high school graduates who contribute to the community by improving the environment for LGBTQ youth. (Management of the fund has now been transferred to eQuality Scholarship Collaborative.)

Markowski-Leach Scholarship Fund

Established by a bequest from the estates of Jim Leach and Tom Markowski, this fund has been granting scholarships since 1992. It offers awards to juniors, seniors, and graduate students at San Francisco State University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley, who self-identify as LGBTQ. Awards are granted to students who are considered likely to enhance society’s perception of LGBTQ people as well as increase the LGBTQ community’s self-esteem.

Juan Marquez Scholarship

This scholarship goes to the top Latino or Latina student at Plymouth (Indiana) High School. Although the award is not aimed at LGBT graduates, it raises the visibility of LGBT philanthropy: the description in the school’s annual listing of available scholarships specifically states that it was established by a gay man to honor his life partner, Juan Marquez, who died in a plane crash in 2000.

Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship

This fellowship supports a new lawyer each year to work in the United States on an innovative, public interest law project that serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It was the first fellowship of its kind anywhere in the country and has been awarded since 2001. It is named in honor of Tom Steel, who was a prominent civil rights and activist attorney in the San Francisco LGBT community.

Joseph Towner Fund for Gay and Lesbian Families

With the support of a bequest from the estate of Joseph Towner, this endowment provides scholarships for postsecondary education of children with at least one gay or lesbian parent residing in the Bay Area.

The Civil Marriage Donor Circle brings together an array of individual donors who contribute a minimum of $5,000 to a common pooled fund to support marriage-equality work across the country. Participants have the opportunity to learn about and discuss marriage strategy with many of the movement’s national and regional leaders. Grants from the donor circle support the national Civil Marriage Funding Collaborative, which is housed at the Proteus Fund.

Red Envelope Giving Circle (REGC) is committed to creating positive social change in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area through philanthropic support to Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ-led projects to improve the lives of API LGBTQ people and communities.

If you wish to talk about a possible grant proposal, please contact Francisco O. Buchting, Director of Grantmaking & Community Initiatives, at 415.398.2333, ext. 116 or fbuchting@horizonsfoundation.org.